Cadillac Owners Forum banner

Bulb model for DRLs and Front Turns on CTS w/OEM HID

18K views 28 replies 10 participants last post by  btreu1 
#1 ·
What are the bulb model #s? I was thinking of replacing the DRLs with something brighter to match the rest of the lighting and the turns with LEDs. Called cadillac parts and they didn't even know the bulb number. Anyone recommend any LED DRLs and Turn signals for this car trim?
 
#5 ·
That doesn't quite give me enough information for the turn signals. Not sure what that model # is.

There's a couple write ups with before and after pics about this in the CTS-V forum.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forum...4-changed-out-drls-before-after-pictures.html

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forum...eral/162521-fog-lights-hid-2.html#post2046805

I ordered the Hoen H11 Xenonmatch and the Cree 5202 LEDs today.
I have the Hoen H11 Xenonmatches (had them for 3+ years, one finally burned out). Might just get another one. Contemplating HID. That's what got me looking at all this again... These links don't mention the amber turn signals, however, or perhaps I missed something. I want to replace those with LEDs as well.

It's all about getting the correct socket which is H16 for the DRL's. I got the 30w Cree on ebay for about $50 and they are really bright. I do see they have 50w now.
The above post mentions 11W. You got 30W. What wattage do you recommend and why? I just want them to last a long time and be whiter.

Thanks everyone for your help.
 
#6 ·
The above post mentions 11W. You got 30W. What wattage do you recommend and why? I just want them to last a long time and be whiter.
I don't have any recommendations as it depends on how bright you want and how much you want to spend. I bought the 30w because it had the most wattage at that time and $50 seemed like a decent price. I am very happy with it. If I had to buy it now I would probably go with the 50w.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, I figured as much. I assume to get it work right I'd have to add resistors. I had the same problem in one of my other cars, however in that car I just replaced the flasher with a model that doesn't increase the blink rate on low resistance. I don't think I can do that on this car, but adding resistors should help, and these days you can buy LEDs with extra resistance built in (for some bulb types).
 
#9 ·
So, this weekend I installed the LED lights from that ebay link and I would seriously recommend going with a different brand.

I spent half an hour trimming excess plastic off the bulb so the connector could plug in. When I finally got it installed, the lights are barely bright enough to be seen. They are visible only at certain angles but 90% of the time, it looks like the lights are off.

I found some 360 degree LED's that I'm gonna try next so we'll see what happens.
 
#14 ·
so heres the update, the link i followed was for 5W bulbs and our cars take 19W OEM. The seller I purchased then from (cortse) has emailed me and offered to give me a free upgrade to a higher wattage bulb! They have 16W bulbs so I'm gonna try them out. I'm thinking these should work out.
 
#15 ·
The ones I ordered (from that same seller) are supposed to be 11W, like the ones the other guy in the other thread used. Hopefully they will be okay then. Should have just gone with higher wattage in the first place... Just thought since those worked fine and looked good for the other guy they would work fine for me...
 
#17 ·
I have the 11W ones in and they look good! Much better than stock. Now I'll actually use my DRLs instead of turning them off or using my parking lights. I hope they last... Now, unfortunately the fog lights I bought to replace my Hoen's (one burned out after 3+ years) didn't fit for some reason. Gotta address that. Considering going HID for the fogs...
 
#20 · (Edited)
Hi all, I just swapped out my DRL's with CREE 30W LED (H16) and they look fantastic. 2009 CTS sedan with OEM HID's.
I was prepared to totally remove the bumper, disconnect fog lights, disconnect headlight washer tubing, etc.
I also wasn't looking forward to removing all of the push pin clips on the bottom side.

I only removed the upper plastic cover (piece under the hood with the weather strip attached), the two 10mm bolts inside the fender wells (1 in each fender), 2 obvious push pins under the hood, and the two 10mm bolts that attach the bumper brackets to the radiator. The bumper EASILY moves out of the way enough to access the 3 headlight fasteners and remove the headlights. There is no need to touch any of the pins under the car or remove the bumper. This mod is super easy and can be done in about an hour :smilewide:

 
#23 ·
Negative here. Our '08 has one that goes on and off intermittently. I'm sure its a bad connection because I could tell the plastic wasn't molded correctly when I installed it. Going with a different retailer but only getting one more pair because mine are working fine. Just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit.

And Merge, the stock wattage is 19W. I wanted to go bright but was concerned about going above the stock wattage. Honestly don't know if it would matter or not but didn't want to burn something up.


-Frank
 
#24 ·
Hammerhead100 said:
Hi all, I just swapped out my DRL's with CREE 30W LED (H16) and they look fantastic. 2009 CTS sedan with OEM HID's. I was prepared to totally remove the bumper, disconnect fog lights, disconnect headlight washer tubing, etc. I also wasn't looking forward to removing all of the push pin clips on the bottom side. I only removed the upper plastic cover (piece under the hood with the weather strip attached), the two 10mm bolts inside the fender wells (1 in each fender), 2 obvious push pins under the hood, and the two 10mm bolts that attach the bumper brackets to the radiator. The bumper EASILY moves out of the way enough to access the 3 headlight fasteners and remove the headlights. There is no need to touch any of the pins under the car or remove the bumper. This mod is super easy and can be done in about an hour :smilewide:
Any further description or pix you could provide? I was able to loosen the top of the bumper cover and remove a total of two headlight bolts. I can't get or even see the third. Thanks.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top